Trouble with passing php parameters without using a form

dweaver2

Hi everyone, brand new here and brand new to php. I need to create a series of hierarchical pages containing course and section information. Meaning - the first page is a list of courses which are clickable. When a course is clicked it returns a list of sections only for that course. When a section is then clicked it returns a page contaning information for that section. My problem is that for every page, it is dislpaying all of the information that matches the query, not just the correct information for what was clicked.

I've been told to use $_GET and to pass the variables through the url (there are no forms involved). Honestly, I don't know where to begin on this. Does the query need to be the exact same for every page? Do all of the GET variables need to be assigned on every page? This is what I have for the middle page (list of sections) Right now it's returning a series of undefined index notices and the list of section numbers, but I need one instructor name and then the list of sections they teach right under the name. The section numbers should then be clickable to retrieve the information for only that section which is the course_section.php page. I know this is a mess, and many many thanks in advance for any help.

 $course_id = $_GET['course_id'];
    $course_name = $_GET['course_name'];
    $section_id = $_GET['section_id'];
    $semester = $_GET['semester'];
    $year = $_GET['year'];
    $course_description = $_GET['course_description'];
    $SGoal_Description = $_GET['SGoal_Description'];
    $sobjective_description = $_GET['sobjective_description'];
    $LObjective_Description = $_GET['LObjective_Description'];
    $topic_title = $_GET['topic_title'];
    $topic_description = $_GET['topic_description'];
    $coursework_title = $_GET['coursework_title'];
    $coursework_location = $_GET['coursework_location'];
    $coursework_description = $_GET['coursework_description']; 
    $syllabus = $_GET['syllabus'];
    $user_fname = $_GET['user_fname'];
    $user_lname = $_GET['user_lname'];	



  $query = "SELECT DISTINCT user_fname, user_lname, section_t.section_id
            FROM authorized_user_t, instructor_t, section_t, teaching_history_t
            WHERE authorized_user_t.authorized_user_id = instructor_t.instructor_id
            AND instructor_t.instructor_id = teaching_history_t.instructor_id
            AND teaching_history_t.section_id = section_t.section_id";


   $result = @mysql_query($query);

         while ($line1 = mysql_fetch_array($result, MYSQL_ASSOC)) {


   echo '<ul align = "center"<strong>' .'Instructor'. ':' ."$user_fname". "$user_lname".'<li align = "center">
   <a href ="course_section.php?course_id='.$line1['course_id'].'&course_name='.$line1['course_name'].'&section_id='.$line1['section_id'].'
     &semester='.$line1['semester'].'&year='.$line1['year'].'&course_description='.$line1['course_description'].'
     &SGoal_Description='.$line1['SGoal_Description'].'&sobjective_description='.$line1['sobjective_description'].'
     &LObjective_Description='.$line1['LObjective_Description'].'&topic_title='.$line1['topic_title'].'
     &topic_description='.$line1['topic_description'].'&coursework_title='.$line1['coursework_title'].'
     &coursework_location='.$line1['coursework_location'].'&coursework_description='.$line1['coursework_description'].'">'.$line1['section_id'].'</a></strong><br><br>'; 


  }

dweaver2

I'm not sure how to alter the WHERE query to make it show only the correct information for a particular course section. It seems like ll of the condtions are there now, and it does bring up the correct information, it just displays all of it for every single course, regardless of which one is clicked.

chrisguk

dweaver2;11003065 wrote:
I'm not sure how to alter the WHERE query to make it show only the correct information for a particular course section. It seems like ll of the condtions are there now, and it does bring up the correct information, it just displays all of it for every single course, regardless of which one is clicked.

This sort of issue takes me back to DB basics all over again.

First thing to ensure is that your DB is normalised correctly and that the necessary relationships between tables have been met.

Surely you would just need to adjust your SQL to incorporate the following:

SELECT * FROM table WHERE course_section_id = ? AND any other fields you require.

This is assuming that you have a relationship between the course section ID and the main data within your DB.

or you could be more specific with your selection requirements for example:

SELECT name, address, course_section_id FROM table WHERE course_section_id = ?

here is a nice example to look at:

http://www.webdevelopersnotes.com/tutorials/sql/mysql_guide_querying_mysql_tables.php3

I believe im on the right track, PHP experts feel free to correct if necessary.